Palestinian Partners to Visit California-Nevada Conference

July 26, 2016

Two leaders from the Palestinian village of Wadi Foquin will visit the California-Nevada Conference from July 26 to August 16 for an education and fundraising speaking tour. Ata Manasra is the coordinator of the Wadi Foquin (Narjes) Community Development Project, and Adel Hroub is the youth coordinator for the project. Venues for their speaking tour will include: South Hayward UMC, San Ramon Valley UMC, Lynnewood UMC in Pleasanton, St. Mark's UMC in Sacramento, First UMC Redding, the United Methodist Women's Mission U in Merced, Oakland Chinese Community UMC, and Lake Park UMC in Oakland.

The speaking tour follows the passage of a resolution at the May 2016 General Conference supporting the village of Wadi Foquin. The resolution acknowledged the challenges facing the village with expansion of settlement development and recent land confiscation orders. The resolution calls for "accountability from the Israeli government" for the destruction of land and life in Wadi Foquin. It further calls upon U.S. officials to contact the Israeli government to immediately halt the illegal Israeli settlements and confiscation of Palestinian land.

Manasra and Hroub will share updates on what is taking place in the village and the larger West Bank region, along with updates on their community development projects.

The speaking tour is being sponsored by the Friends of Wadi Foquin, a partnership initiated in 2009 by members of the California-Nevada Conference. The Wadi Foquin Community Development Project is supported through the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) Advance #3021565. More information about the partnership can be found at friendsofwadifoquin.com, or by contacting Friends of Wadi Foquin co-chairs, the Rev. Michael Yoshii at michaelyoshii1@gmail.com, or the Rev. Naomi Southard at nosouth@aol.com.